Views on television

On the table next to my recliner are books I am reading or intend to read, also a coaster for my coffee cup, and a TV guide.

Those essentials needed when I watch television...too much television.

What I needed to resolve in 2013 was to watch less television. There's no need for all that dribble that I tune into.

Most of the guests I see on the talk shows, I've never heard of. They are making their mark in the movie industry or music world. Or they have written a book.

I find myself watching the old black and white movie classics more and more, where I am familiar with the stars of old, like Loretta Young, Clark Gable, Cary Grant, Joan Crawford and Bette Davis. And I can't forget Henry Fonda, Spencer Tracy and Tyrone Power. I wonder how those female stars, like Elizabeth Taylor and Barbara Stanwyck got such tiny waists. They must have exercised a lot, or else wore waist cincher corsets.

One thing I noticed while watching the classics is that most of those stars, male and female, were smokers. They were always lighting up while they were talking. They hadn't yet heard that smoking is hazardous to your health, sometimes deadly.

Neither did you see the stars doing much exercising on screen or working out in exercise gyms. They seldom rode bicycles or went for walks. But they did serve a lot of coffee, and booze.

If I had resolved to exercise more in 2013, I would have already broken my resolution.

Rather, I find myself indulging in recliner resting more and more.

That, too, is a habit.

I wash a few dishes, then I rest.

I make the bed, then rest.

I run the dust mop, then I rest.

I fix lunch and rest while eating in my recliner.

While I watch television.

I like to watch Project Runway but some of the competitors are so strange that I usually turn the channel. It is hard for me to trust a designer with a weird hairdo that stands on end.

There's one of the old standbys on a religious channel that I can't abide either.

She wears grayish purple hair that is about a foot high. Somehow that garish hairdo and heavy makeup is a turnoff for me. I can't hear what she's saying for the way she looks

I felt the same way about Tammi Baker and her heavy makeup and overabundant bangles. Some of the televangelists look more and more like models than ministers.

Their sleek hairdos and designer slim-legged pants somehow detract from what they are preaching.

I prefer the Billy Graham type.

He wasn't always asking me to become a partner. He just preached the gospel and asked sinners to repent.

There are so many cook shows that I can't settle on any one program. Some of them are copycat cooking shows.

And I don't like copycats.

We also have Dr. Oz who knows a lot and Dr. Phil who is a know-it-all.

I've stopped trying to keep up with soap operas because they change the scene about every 60 seconds. Honestly, every 60 seconds.

If I go into the kitchen or to the bathroom, I've already missed a love scene or a dramatic moment crucial to the storyline.

I was getting so confused that I thought it best I withdraw from soaps. For years I've thought that most soaps give a distorted view of life.

Stars on soaps mix drinks a lot. Seems like the ice is always ready.

Having said all this negativity about television, I have to admit that I watch a lot of it.